Lovie Smith is occasionally mocked for his overly sunny views on his team and his inability to recognize his squad’s faults. (“Rex is our quarterback.”)
That’s why it was so surprising to hear the following quote from Smith on Monday, one day after the 5-3 Bears escaped with a 22-19 win over the winless Bills.
“We’re 5-3 right now, and a lot of times it seems like we’re 2-6 or something like that,” Smith said via Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re a good football team, and, in time, we’ll prove that more and more. I like our position.”
Smith is dead on in the sense that there isn’t much separating the Bears from a 2-6 team. But he’s also right that Chicago is in decent position in the NFC North. Chicago has a chance to bury the Vikings this week and move to 3-0 in the division and tie for first.
(That brings up a tough question for Packers fans: Who are you rooting for this week?)
The Bears’ position is fine, but the reason why we don’t expect them to make the playoffs is their schedule. They still have the Dolphins, Eagles, Patriots, and Jets on the docket before finishing the season in Lambeau Field.
Chicago will have done very well to survive that stretch and make their Week 17 trip to the Packers matter.